HELPING HANDS
Sun Youth driver Adel Benkhelifa works with Valérie Plante on Wednesday to fill a bag of food for distribution to the poor. On the eve of her swearing in, the mayor-elect is confident she is strong — and tough-skinned — enough for the job, Michelle Lalond
On the eve of her swearing-in ceremony, Valérie Plante said she has no intention of losing her sense of humour — nor her signature laugh nor the ever-present smile — even as she gets down to the serious business of running Quebec’s largest metropolis.
Plante says she has a thick skin and a good sense of humour, and has no problem laughing off the caricatures and the skewering that come with political prominence.
When the Montreal Gazette ran a front-page cartoon of Plante’s head superimposed on the body of Wonder Woman following her election on Nov. 5, some readers took offence, saying the cartoon of a scantily clad Plante was disrespectful, even sexist. Plante laughed it off and, like many other readers, saw the cartoon as implying Plante is strong and capable, like the superhero.
On Wednesday, Plante was asked about comedian Marc Labrèche’s over-the-top impression of her on a recent episode of the RadioCanada television show Info, sexe et mensonges.
In the sketch, titled House of Valérie, Labrèche plays both a hysterically laughing Plante and the Claire Underwood character of the popular web television series House of Cards.
The skit makes fun of Plante’s laugh, her enthusiasm over her win and her lack of experience as a political leader. When the Underwood character asks the Plante character what her qualifications are to run a metropolis, Labrèche — as Plante — replies, “I have a diploma in museum studies and a contagious smile!” and then bursts into crazed laughter and starts chanting “Valérie! Valérie!”
Plante was asked whether she plans to lose her big smile and perhaps some exuberance in order to be taken seriously once she is sitting in the mayor’s chair.
“No. Absolutely not,” she told reporters after touring the Sun Youth organization headquarters on St-Urbain St. in the PlateauMont-Royal borough Wednesday.
“To me it was an honour that Marc Labrèche decided to make a caricature. I think it’s very funny. You’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself. I do have this quality.”
But Plante warned those who would mistake her laughter for foolishness. She said she is very confident she will “prove to everyone” that she is much more than a smile.
“I invite people who might want to reduce me to a smile or a laugh to take a look at how I became mayor of Montreal. It’s not just because of a smile. It’s because I know where I’m going. I’m well surrounded. I’m qualified.”
Indeed, Plante burst into her signature big laugh when she was asked whether she has yet figured out how to balance the city’s $5.2-billion budget, considering the $358-million shortfall her team announced it had discovered just days after her election win.
“You should talk to (Benoît) Dorais about that,” she said, referring to the Sud-Ouest borough mayor she has selected to chair the city’s executive committee.
“Actually, don’t talk to him because he is closed up in his office, doing nothing but that, looking at how we will present a budget that will be bold, that will go in the direction of the promises we made and, once again, we will not increase tax levels for Montrealers. That is a clear promise I can give you today.”
Plante refused to name other members of her executive committee, although she reiterated there will be parity between men and women, that different parts of the city will be represented and that the committee will probably include members of other political parties.
She was asked whether she would take longtime city councillor Marvin Rotrand’s advice not to name borough mayors to the executive committee, since their jobs are already very demanding. Plante said she does not rule out selecting borough mayors.